Creative Black and White: Digital Photography Tips and Techniques
Overview
Black and white photography is far more than just color photography minus the color. It requires a different artistic eye, a few additional rules, and some post-processing knowledge to create the lovely images of that genre. That’s why I’m ever on the lookout for great black and white photography instructional books to pass along. This time, I checked out the recent, highly rated book Creative Black and White: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques by Harold Davis (May 2010). This 240 page book did not disappoint on delivering quality, relevant, and timely information on digital black and white photography.
This book breaks down into these three main chapters (click chapter links to see book excerpts):
Each main chapter provides black and white photography related tips and techniques, which usually take a few pages. For example, “The Monochromatic Vision” chapter includes sections such as “Thinking in Black and White,” “Black and White Composition,” “Shades of Gray,” and “Finding Monochromatic Subjects.” (See here for complete chapter breakdowns.)
The author, Harold Davis, is actually quite a prolific and well-respected writer. From the book’s back cover:
Harold Davis is an award-winning professional photographer. He is the author of more than 30 books, including Creative Composition: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques, Creative Close-Ups: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques, The Photoshop Darkroom: Creative Digital Post-Processing, and Practical Artistry: Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers. Harold writes the popular Photoblog 2.0, www.photoblog2.com.
Book Pros
- handsomely illustrated with Harold Davis’s own monochromatic photos
- excellent English, well edited, and easy to read
- high quality paper and photos
- camera settings at time of capture for each photo
- text with each photo describing the author’s original intent
- a balanced coverage of black and white digital photography
Book Cons
- Only that it was like watching a good movie—I hated to see it end.
Recommendation
This is the first book I’ve read by Harold Davis, and if it is representative of his work, then his other books will have priority come book buying time at my house.
It should be an enjoyable and informative read for most serious amateurs, as well as for professionals. I would definitely encourage anyone interested in black and white digital photography to consider adding this highly rated book to their library.
If you’d like to check the book out further, there are numerous excerpts available for viewing on Creative Edge’s site here.
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Reader Comments (1)
I'm a big fan of Harold Davis and I have some of his books in my book cabinet.
Yes, thank you for your article, that's remind to take a picture in classical of Black and White